From Technical Success to Real-World Impact: Applying a Gender Equity and Social Inclusion Lens to AMR Research and Innovation
Dr Ingrid Lynch, Prof Lyn Middleton, Dr Bhensri Naemiratch
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is increasingly recognised as a structural and social issue across One Health sectors. Gender and other drivers of inequity shape antimicrobial access and use, exposure to AMR risks, participation in animal health decision-making, and access to information, services, and markets. Less attention has been paid to how these same factors influence the uptake, effectiveness, sustainability, and equitable impact of AMR innovations. AMR research and innovation are often driven by highly technical questions, including the development of new antimicrobials, diagnostics, vaccines, surveillance approaches, and alternatives to antimicrobial use. However, technical success alone does not guarantee real-world impact. Whether an AMR innovation is adopted, used correctly, scaled sustainably, or benefits the intended populations depends on the social, economic, and institutional systems into which it is introduced.
Drawing on two years of portfolio-level learning from gender equity and social inclusion technical support to the Innovative Veterinary Solutions for Antimicrobial Resistance (InnoVet-AMR) cohort, this presentation examines how livestock and aquaculture research teams integrated these considerations into stakeholder engagement, data collection, farm-level analysis, training strategies, adoption pathways, and recommendations for scale-up and commercialisation. Rather than positioning equity as separate from AMR research and innovation, the presentation shows how attention to socio-cultural and structural context can strengthen research design, implementation, data interpretation, and pathways to uptake. By making visible who uses, decides, accesses, and benefits from AMR innovations, a gender equity and social inclusion lens can help teams improve relevance, adoption, and impact across laboratory, field, market, and policy pathways.
